St. Vincent

About St. Vincent And A Boy

There’s a scene in St. Vincent where Bill Murray’s character Vincent (Vin) parks his car into his driveway by driving it backwards. I’ve always wondered what the advantage is for those people who hold up traffic for this rather difficult way to park, but this scene tells you everything about the main character. He has a really difficult way to do everything.

Vin is a curmudgeonly alcoholic gambling slob whose life is going backwards for all kinds of reasons. Enter neighbor and single mom Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her son that discovers that the sarcastic Vin has a heart of gold. This is not exactly an original screenplay; I think it plays every week on TV’s About A Boy, but Murray and McCarthy’s on-screen charm are crowd-pleasers for sure.

Simply put: Predictable but amusing. A good film choice if you’d like to put a happy note on the end of a crappy day.

Award potential: Murray has some chances to tug at your heart as a true actor. Golden Globe’s comedy category should notice. Oscar won’t.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks. Barely.